Play With Your Food

The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra must be the only band in the world that buys its instruments fresh and organic before each performance. They must also be the only ones to use DIY instruments such as cucuphones in the wind section. For the uninitiated it's made out of a carrot, cucumber and pepper. Also in the winds is the recorder made out of a carrot with drilled holes, the most difficult instrument to create. If you slice an eggplant horizontally, but not all the way, so that the slices are still attached then you have a castanet. Naturally, a pumpkin is used as a bongo drum and celeriac is a bass and violins are leeks.

The 11 orchestra members prefer to use organic vegetables but it can be hard if they are out of season. There was no confirmation if organic made better instruments. The concerts usually end with soup for the audience, made out of the ingredients. Unfortunately, in health & safety mad England, they won't be allowed to do that. "But no one has ever died at one of our gigs" lamented one of the musicians.

The musicians are for real; they have been performing as a collective, playing avant-garde music for nine years now to larger and larger audiences. Their goal: "we are making avant-garde digestible". :: The Times

The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra must be the only band in the world that buys its instruments fresh and organic before each performance. They must also be the only ones to use DIY instruments such as cucuphones in the wind section. For the uninitiated